Leafy Greens

Any variety of kale will work in this recipe. If available, try ruffled Red Russian kale, Tuscan kale, or Salad Savoy.

Wash the salad greens in a large bowl of cold water. Handle them gently to avoid bruising.

The ciabatta slices make for man-sized crostini, perfect for a Super Bowl party. If you can, always cut the bread into bite-sized chunks for more manageable portions.

This recipe is a fun alternative to the heavier dishes that tend to make an appearance at Super Bowl parties. A few variations can be made to this salad as well: Make it Buffalo style by tossing the chicken in a little hot sauce just after you've fried it. You can also vary the cheese (by using goat or Feta) and other salad ingredients (like lettuce type) according to taste. Freezing the cheese will make it firmer and much easier to grate.

This "assembly of greens," as Miss Lewis would say, has a supple texture that works nicely with cornmeal dumplings.

Almost every culture has an abiding, elemental hunger for greens, and in the American South, it's common to simmer a variety of them. Hopkins cooks his relatively quickly in a satiny béchamel. The nutty sweetness of the sauce rounds out the natural bitterness of the greens, thus lifting them into the realm of the spectacular. Think of this as a rough-around-the-edges version of creamed spinach, one with real backbone.

In keeping with the rest of the menu, this is no shy salad. The sweet and acidic vinaigrette unites with the salty bacon and, along with the lettuces, produces fireworks in the mouth.

You'll return again and again to this recipe since it can be assembled in advance and delivers serious flavor. The scent of ham gently permeates the eggs, whose yolks can be broken into the rest of the dish.

Pan-sear to crisp the skin, then pop the fillets in the oven to finish the job.

Wilted radicchio and spinach are a nice match for spicy red pepper flakes and smoky, salty bacon. Treviso—with its not-too-tough (but also not-too-tender) leaves—is the best choice for this recipe if you can find it.

Radicchio's bitterness is a nice match for the slightly sweet sausages. Serve this hearty dish with crusty bread or with pasta tossed with olive oil, garlic, and chopped Italian parsley.

Here, radicchio is paired with another member of the chicory family: frisée. With Sherry vinegar, feta, oranges, and Kalamatas, this salad has great Mediterranean flavor.

We'll admit it—we all love a wedge of iceberg with blue-cheese dressing. So there's no need to apologize for serving this beautiful plate of sweet lettuce, slices of good Stilton, and toasted walnuts, along with an excellent vinaigrette that brings out the best in all of them.

Creamed spinach often gets a dash of nutmeg. With the rest of this meal, you'll be happy to have a lighter (meaning creamless), more basic sautéed spinach, but the nutmeg remains, for a sense of something special.

The zing of fresh lemon enhances both the peas' sweetness and the natural flavor of the spinach. The whole quick, creamy dish is bolstered by soft pillows of potato gnocchi.